Irish singer/songwriter Damien Rice started out in 1997 in a band called Juniper, which was signed to a major deal but fell apart before it could make a full album. Shortly after that, Rice hit the road as a solo artist. His first album, 2003's O, in…

Though Jeff Buckley was adamant about not being compared to his father Tim, his voice and free-floating, improvisatory folk/rock/jazz style bore inescapable echoes of genetic heritage. The Michael Jordan of singers, he had a voice that could soar or …

When pioneering alt-country band Uncle Tupelo split in the mid-1990s, they broke off into two camps. Jay Farrar started the rootsy, twangy (if lyrically elliptical) Son Volt. Singer/songwriter/guitarist Jeff Tweedy, who co-led the band with Farrar, e…

In 2000, Coldplay emerged seemingly out of nowhere to become a worldwide smash with their debut album PARACHUTES and hit single "Yellow." They're generally lumped in with the Britpop crowd, but, like Travis, they favor a more thoughtful, melodic pop …

Elliott Smith started out as the leader of Portland-based alt-rock band Heatmiser, who made three mid-1990s albums achieving good reviews but disappointing sales. Eventually Smith reinvented himself as a solo singer-songwriter, and his first couple o…

Formed in the Pacific Northwest during the late 1990s, Death Cab for Cutie deals in guitar rock that is informed by a striking sensitivity. Led by singer/guitarist Benjamin Gibbard, the group straddles the line between indie and emo rock, earning the…

In the late 1990s, the Albuquerque indie-rock band Flake Music morphed into the Shins, led by vocalist-guitarist James Mercer. Upon the release of 2001's OH, INVERTED WORLD, the Shins garnered a landslide of critical acclaim with their amiable, 1960…

Iron & Wine is the artistic alias of Florida singer/songwriter Sam Beam, who crafts delicate songs full of poetic lyrics and simple, haunting melodies. Beam delivers his tunes in a hushed, Nick Drake-like voice and frames them with spare, mostly acou…

Bright Eyes is the brainchild of Omaha, NE singer-songwriter Conor Oberst, around whom the band (which has at times consisted solely of Oberst) revolves. Part of an Omaha indie scene centered around the Saddle Creek label, Oberst learned at the feet …

Along with Uncle Tupelo, Whiskeytown is in many ways the quintessential alt-country band. Flaunting a boozy aesthetic more suited to CBGBs than the Ryman Auditorium, the band nonetheless produced some of the most heartfelt, twang-laden rock songs of …

Welsh singer-songwriter David Gray's story is the classic scenario of the overnight success that took years to happen. He emerged in the early 1990s as an acoustic-based artist heavily influenced by old-school troubadours like Bob Dylan and Van Morri…

Although Rufus Wainwright is the son of singer-songwriters Loudon Wainwright and Kate McGarrigle, since the 1990s he has firmly established his own musical presence. Though he's an introspective troubadour, he looks back beyond the folk and rock infl…

Nick Drake was the quintessential fragile genius. His late-1960s and early-'70s albums combine pastoral, very British romanticism with a jazzy folk lilt that owes a debt to Tim Buckley and Tim Hardin. His hypnotic whisper of a voice and his virtuosic…

Beck Hansen, the quintessential California slacker, came up among the lo-fi ranks, pushing a blend of country blues, Dylan-inspired wordplay, punk, and hip-hop. His straight-out-of-the-gate 1994 smash, "Loser," made him a star seemingly overnight. Su…

Singer/songwriter Ben Harper, who hails from Pomona, CA, debuted in 1994 with WELCOME TO THE CRUEL WORLD. Harper's idiosyncratic mix of blues, folk, rock, funk, and reggae made an instant splash. His distinctive use of the dobro-like Weissenborn guit…

In a crossover worthy of soap star-turned-rocker Rick Springfield, professional surfer Jack Johnson emerged as one of the hottest pop stars of the early '00s. The interesting thing is that, amid hordes of teen-poppers and nu-metallists, he came to fa…

Bob Dylan began as a Woody Guthrie acolyte, imitating the dust-bowl balladeer as faithfully as a baby boomer from Hibbing, Minnesota, could. It wasn't long before he found his own voice, spearheading the early-1960s folk revival as well as the singer…

In the midst of the early 1990s grunge boom, Counting Crows emerged as an alternative to the heavy, alienated sounds of the Kurt Cobain crowd. The California band harked back to the classic '60s folk-rock sounds of the Band, Bob Dylan, and Van Morris…

Combining the influences of new wave, post-punk, and lo-fi, Washington's Modest Mouse spent the second half of the 1990s becoming one of the most renowned indie-rock bands in America. Though often tagged an emo group, Modest Mouse transcends sub-genr…

b. 27 July 1975, New Jersey, USA. This roots rock singer-songwriter and guitarist was one of the most unexpected commercial successes of the new millennium, breaking into the US charts in 2001 on the back of extensive live work and word-of-mouth sale…